University of Wisconsin Madison - Badger Yearbook (Madison, WI)

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Gymnastics 123

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In the Library [22]

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Knnodon . trt-et Huies Few campus institutions have been compelled to fight off the many-sided attack of depres- sion with more stubborn tenacity and against such overwhelming odds as has Wisconsin ' s widely famed fraternity and sorority system. There remains virtually no phase of Greek letter social life which is without its depression scars, and only the most naive and optimistic of rushing chairmen would deny that the whole structure has been badly shaken. Consider the following recorded facts: Three sororities and nine fraternities have given up the ghost since 1929-30. Sorority income has declined 3 6.69 per cent in the four year period, and fraternity income has hit 61.08 per cent of its 1929-30 level. Mortgage holders have taken over 40 per cent of the fraternity houses, and today only three of 40 houses are all paid for. Active sorority membership has shot downward by 2 3.01 per cent and pledge registration has been reduced to 3S.51 per cent of the total four years ago. Fraternity actives number 27.29 per cent less than they did in the 1929-3 period, and pledges are off by 3 0.5S per cent. These figures, of course, do not by the wildest stretch of the miagination tell the whole story. The bitterest Greek letter system opponent would be compelled to admit that in many field fraternities and sororities have proceeded in the face of tremendous odds to meet intelligently and constructively the new problems which economic adversity has produced. On the debit side of the balance sheet some pertinent statistics are essential for any permanent record. In telescoped form they follow below: Number of sororities in 1929-1930 24 Number of sororities in 1933-1934 21 Per cent of decrease 12.5 per cent Number of fraternities in 1929-1930 , . . . 46 Number of fraternities in 1933-1934 37 Per cent of decrease 19.56 per cent Number of sorority actives in 1929-1930 617 Number of sorority actives in 1932-1933 475 Per cent of decrease 2 3.01 per cent Number of fraternity actives in 1929-1930 1,220 Number of fraternity actives in 1932-1933 877 Per cent of decrease 27.29 per cent Number of sorority pledges .n 1929-1930 321 Number of sorority pledges in 1932-1933 207 Per cent of decrease 3 5.51 per cent Number of fraternity pledges in 1929-193 563 Number of fraternity pledges in 1932-1933 391 Per cent of decrease 30.5 5 per cent 241